Rules
by mistsplash
Summary: He's taught her five very important things.


_Rules_

by mistsplash

* * *

_i: Dance in the rain, 'cause y'know, the people around you don't have the guts to_

Rain floods the dirty streets of Odaiba, coming down in painful, heavy droplets, but this ugliness is lost on Sora Takenouchi, for all she can see is the way the drops catch the light, the way the water bounces before settling on the pavement. She can only see the beauty.

"It's so pretty," she breathes, looking up at the sky, feeling the warm rain wash her cheeks and tangle her hair. She closes her eyes for a moment, relishing the feeling, before turning to face the boy beside her.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yeah, it's nice," Tai answers, smiling at her. The rain flattens his hair and it looks nearly normal-sized.

"Sometimes I just want to dance, like they do in those stupid movies." She doesn't feel embarrassed when she admits this, because it's Tai, and he'll accept her no matter what she does.

"Then why don't you?"

She looks at him oddly. "Are you crazy? People will think I'm delirious or something."

He grins wickedly, eyes glinting in that way that spelled trouble. "How does that matter? Here, watch." He takes her hand, pulling her closer, as if they were about to hug. She isn't flustered or embarrassed because, again, it's only Tai.

"What are you doing?"

He only pulls her out of the crowd, onto a little stretch of road that is surrounded by cars, so there's no chance of them getting hit.

"What are you doing?" she demands once more, but her gut twists and she thinks she knows.

"You said you wanted to dance in the rain," he says simply, drawing her closer, and soon they're moving in awkward circles, making a poor attempt at dancing.

Sora's attempts to stop him are lost. "But _Tai!_ People are staring!"

He smiles and whispers, "They're only staring because they want to join us."

Sora stares at him oddly, but his words just _click_, and soon they're laughing and singing and spinning in the rain, the drops making her hair and clothes cling to her, and as she pulls him with her, she knows that she'll have to thank him for this later.

* * *

_ii: When you're in trouble, smile, 'cause there's always someone to blame it on_

Sora stares, petrified, at Tai's absolutely serene expression. They're _done for_, they know that, they'll be expelled and then Sora will have to work at her mother's flower shop forever, and she looks at Tai for help and—

"How the hell can you be so calm about this?" she whisper-shouts at him, eyes blazing with desperation and fury.

He smiles at her, and it irritates her, so she punches him in the arm. It doesn't faze him.

"We'll be expelled!" she cries softly, resisting the urge to wring his neck when he smirks.

"No, we won't."

"How do _you_ know?"

"Ssh, just watch," he says, tugging her backwards and motioning to the space around the corner of the wall, where she knows the principal is waiting, waiting to kill the two of them and, even worse, expel them.

"I repeat: how can you be so calm about this?"

His grin widens, and he tilts his head towards the principal, motioning for her to go ahead and take a look. Sending him a scathing glance, she looks over his shoulder and gasps.

There their principal is, yelling at Izzy. _Izzy_.

She doesn't know if she wants to scream at Tai for blaming Izzy, or hug him for getting them out of trouble. She finds herself asking, "Why Izzy?"

"Isn't it obvious? Nobody in their right mind would expel Izzy, so he was the perfect choice. 'Course, he's gonna kill me later, but…" Tai shrugs, frowning a bit.

Sora shakes her head in disbelief. "You're terrible."

His grin is back. "Oh, I know."

* * *

_iii: Never trust anyone…until you know where they live_

Sora has a very, very bad hunch that Tai will go to jail one day and then she'll have to bail him out, because he's her best friend and she loves him too much to see him die of prison food. Plus, afternoons would be incredibly boring without Tai around.

Right now, though, Sora is staring at him, mouth opening and closing like a fish's, and she's almost sure that she'll be the one to jail him. Then, she'll get Mimi or someone to bail him out. At the moment, that plan sounds very tempting…

She sighs. Meeting his eyes, with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised, she asks, "Why?" Her voice betrays none of her frustration.

He's trying to pull the "oh-I'm-so-innocent-don't-kill-me-I-love-you-Sora" eyes on her, but she won't fall for that—not after the last time. This time, he went just a bit too far.

"Why what?" he asks, almost-genuine confusion in his voice. Only, it's not genuine…because he knows what he did and he knows that he's about to get the biggest ass-beating of his life.

"You _know_ what."

"No I don't…"

"Oh, yes you do. Did you _have_ to break into Matt's house and spray paint his guitar pink?" Sora wasn't really mad about that; she was frustrated because her boyfriend wouldn't stop whining about it, and more so, she was upset that Tai hadn't invited her along for the prank.

"Yeah…he lost my soccer ball! My _favorite_ one!"

"You knew he was going to lose it!" she shot back. "Why'd you give it to him in the first place?"

To Sora's horror—and slight amusement—his lips stretched into a wide grin. "You know how the saying goes…"

"What saying?"

" 'Never trust someone until you know where they live'."

* * *

_iv: Never go to bed angry; stay awake and plot your revenge_

Sora screams as the cold comes rushing down on her, making her freezing and wet. She knows, automatically, like some sort of sixth sense, who the culprit is. If it were anyone else, she knows she would've just glared at them and told them to leave her alone.

But it's not anyone else; it's Tai. Her best friend. And best friends have these certain rights that normal friends don't. Like, for instance, being able to punch said friend and still be loved.

Tai cringes as Sora's fist collides with his stomach; she can feel it. Yet she isn't strong enough to do him any real damage—it's a fact she hates.

"What. The. Hell?"

Tai chuckles nervously, throwing the bowl that previously contained ice-water aside. "Um…"

"It's four in the _morning_, dammit!"

"Well…"

"Any last words?" she growls, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and glaring at him.

"Well…well…you sprayed me with the school's hose!" he whisper-yells.

"You were being weird." She exhales sharply, trying her best not to shiver. "And why four in the morning? Couldn't you do this at school?"

"You must never go to bed angry; stay awake and plot your revenge," he tells her with a straight face, and she only stares at him like he has two heads.

* * *

_v: The perfect New Year's recipe always starts with three shots—no more, no less_

Sora stares, incredulously, at the boy in front of her. She can't believe she's spending her New Year's Eve like this. They're in her apartment, a bottle of liquor between them. Tai is filling several small glasses with the drink.

When he's done, Sora eyes them critically. "Only six?"

"Yeah. Just six. I thought you were against this in the first place…why do you care?"

She shakes her head dismissively. "No, no, I'm still against it. I just thought that when you said shots, you meant…well, more than six."

He grins. "Three, technically. Three for each of us. Three is a good number."

Sora sighs. "Let's just get this over with. Before my mom comes home."

Tai snickers. He's doing this out of curiosity, she knows, because he wants to know how much alcohol he can hold down. Why he doesn't wait until he's at the legal age, she doesn't know.

He holds a glass out to her, and she takes it. Sora winces as the burning drink melts her throat. With one look at Tai's face, she knows that he doesn't like it very much, either.

Nonetheless, they find themselves reaching for a second glass, and then a third; Sora finds herself mildly disappointed when she realizes that there isn't a fourth.

"Hey, Tai?" she whispers softly, alcohol tainting her breath.

"Yeah?"

She glances at the clock. Her timing is perfect. "You know that belief…if you want to stay with someone for a long time, kiss them on New Year's?"

"Yeah…something like that…"

"Well?"

"Wha'?"

"Howsabout a New Year's kiss?" She wants to blame it on the alcohol, but she knows that she can't, because she hasn't had that much, and after all, it's not like she was suggesting something very romantic. She just wants to stay with her best friend for a long time. Nope, nothing romantic about it at all…

"What about Matt?" he asks, eyebrows drawn together.

"What about him? We're just friends, and you want to stay together for a long time, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Then how does it matter? Come on, you've kissed me before…"

"We were seven, Sora."

"Same difference."

"Okay…here we go…"

"Just one kiss…"

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two—

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Dude. No matter what I do, I'll always see these two as a troublemaker and tomboy. -.-" Eh, whatever…Tai and Sora are fun to write about.

Reviews are love.


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